Matthew Stuart

Matthew Stuart is currently the Head of School at The Caedmon School in New York City, a Montessori Pre-school and Montessori-inspired Elementary School, serving two-year olds through Grade Five. He has been teaching in independent schools since 1985. Prior to Caedmon, he was the Head of the Upper School and the Director of Secondary School Placement at the Town School in NYC and the Middle School Director at the National Cathedral School in Washington DC. Before NCS, Matthew was on the faculty of the Spence School in NYC, where he taught drama and speech, was the Head of the Performing Arts Department, and the Director of Student Affairs. He began his teaching career as the Middle School Drama teacher at the Hewitt School in NYC. In 1994 and 1995, Matthew was also the Co-Director of the Spence Teaching Institutes, focused on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Since 2005, Mr. Stuart has also been a leader at the ISM (Independent School Management) Summer Institute, having taught, Chairing Your Department, Leading the 21st Century Middle School, and most recently, Dynamic Leadership Teams, Managing Up, Down and Sideways.

In addition to his work in independent schools, Matthew has been a professional actor and theatre director. He holds a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts from Syracuse University and was a Klingenstein Fellow, earning a M.A. in Educational Administration, with a focus in private school leadership, from Teachers College, Columbia University.

As a 1998-99 Klingenstein Fellow, his research explored Heads striving to be inclusive of LGBTQ support in independent schools. Mr. Stuart was also awarded a NAIS/EE Ford Fellowship in 2004, as an Aspiring Head of School. He is a Trustee for The Center for Racial Justice in Education, the secretary of the Board of Leadership + Design, a leading organization for innovation in education, and currently serves as the Vice President of the leadership council of The Guild of New York City Heads of Schools.

Mr. Stuart believes that schools have a moral mission to ensure that every student has an equitable opportunity for personal discovery, safety, and educational prosperity.